


Humility

by awesome_goddess_of_mischief



Series: Angsty Tony One-Shots [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Arrogance, BAMF Steve Rogers, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, M/M, Major Character Injury, Nick Fury Lies, Self-Hatred, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:31:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5190527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesome_goddess_of_mischief/pseuds/awesome_goddess_of_mischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mistake in Tony's tech causes a huge explosion, killing dozens and injuring many more.<br/>Including Steve. </p><p>Will Tony manage to deal with the guilt?<br/>Or is all not as it seems...?</p><p>((Another Angsty Tony one shot, this is in no way related to the other fics in this series))</p>
            </blockquote>





	Humility

**Author's Note:**

> This idea popped to mind while I was watching House M.D.  
> Episode 3 from season 3 to be precise.
> 
> I just think House and Tony have a lot in common.
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy it.

Tony Stark was an arrogant asshole.

Or at least he acted like one.

It was true that he was a genius, and his weapons never failed. If he built something, it would work no doubt about it. The only problem was that it made him oh so vain. The engineer had became arrogant and over confident.

And he paid the price for it.

 

 

-

 

 

Another average mission, it didn't even ask for all the Avengers present. Steve and Natasha went on site to clear the area of all innocent people while Tony worked on a device to safely eliminate the reactors without blowing up.

It was a rush project, Iron Man only had a few hours to complete something no one had ever succeeded in making. Of course, he was not just anybody. "It will work. Just say the word and I'll fire it. It's all done and ready to be launched." Stark said with a smug grin as he leaned against the rocket shaped machine.

It would release a complicated series of electro magnetic pulses to carefully stop the reactors from working without immediately starting a chain reaction.

"Cap to Iron Man, we are a minute away from clearing. Fire to hit in two minutes. Iron Man, do you copy?" Steve was heard over the com and caused Tony to sigh.

"Yeah Cap, I copy. Launching now. Hit will be in exactly two minutes flat." The engineer answered as he pressed a few buttons and stepped back. There it went... Worth at least three new patents. Tony smirked as he followed the trail of the newly created device. The time was visible in the top right corner. Everything seemed to be completely smoothly. "Hit in one minute. Are you cleared Cap?" Even though convinced it would work, it would be safer to make sure everyone was out of there.

Just in case.

"Almost. More Hydra agents showed up. Black Widow is out and in the air. I w-" Steve got cut off when everything went to hell.

Tony's machine disappeared off his screen while his sensors on scene went wild. For a second everything was silent.

 

"Stark?!! What the hell happened??" Fury blasted over the speakers as Tony sat there in shock.

"I... I don't... I don't know." He stuttered as he frantically started pressing buttons. He had to make sure Steve was okay. Steve had to be-

"C-Cap to... B-base..." Steve's voice crooked over the line before coughing muffled.

"Steve?" Tony whispered but got pushed aside by Fury's voice demanding a status update.

"Explosion... Don't know where I am... No one else visible... Broken leg, some cuts and bruises, cracked ribs, and possibly internal bleeding."

"Stay put Captain, back up is on its way to pick up you up. Stark... Report to base. We need to talk." All lines cut dead and Tony swallowed thickly, his heart pounding in his throat.

What had he done?

 

-

 

"...seventy-two casualties. An Avenger out of commission for the next week. Over a hundred injured."

Fury was ranting while Tony was sitting down. The engineer sat alone at the head of the table while the wave of anger simply flowed past him.

He had screwed up badly.

Apparently his invention had malfunction and caused a massive explosion. By some miracle it hadn't hit the reactors. But even worse, it had landed close to a group of bystanders. People were dead and injured because of Tony's mistake. He killed seventy two people. Injured over a hundred. And injured Steve.

Steve, who already hated him badly, would most likely-

"It goes without saying you are off the team until further notice." Tony was snapped from his thoughts as Fury spoke up.

"No! Wait, you can't do that. You need my air support. With Thor in Asgard half of the time I'm the only flying Avenger you have." Stark jumped to defend as his heart fell in an icy block. This couldn't be happening...

 

"No. You are half right. We need Iron Man. He's not off the team. But _you_ are. Now get your ass out of here and stay at home where we can find you when needed." The director dismissed him.

Tony swallowed thickly and nodded.

Iron Man yes. Tony Stark: not recommended. As it always has been and always would be. For once the genius understood though. He couldn't be trusted with his consult anymore. He murdered seventy-two people after all...

 

-

 

Tony Stark was sneaking through the halls of Shield's medical wing. He had to see Steve. He had to make sure the super soldier was truly alive.

You see... Tony cared for Steve. A lot. Only the Captain had always made his dislike for the futuristic, rude, blunt, and cross playboy very obvious. And so Iron Man made sure Rogers was sleeping when he entered.

Which was good. Since Tony immediately cursed when he saw the state of the other man. His face was swollen and there were bandages everywhere. But he was alive. Alive and breathing.

Tony sat down in the chair with shaking hands. Every ounce of pain Steve felt was because of him. He messed up. And now he had to repay even more. Frankly, the engineer doubted he would live long enough.

He reached out a hand to touch Steve's hand but pulled back at the last second. He couldn't. His hands were tainted with blood and he wouldn't touch Steve. It was wrong. The once hero swallowed thickly and slipped out. He had work to do.

 

-

 

During the next few weeks no one saw Tony Stark. He was hidden away in his workshop, continuously working on everything he could get his hands on. He sent in about a dozen patents a day for machinery serving pure purposes.

Medical equipment made smaller to help improve transportable health units.

Tactical gear that served dual purposes between life vests, bullet proof fabric, and a complete monitor of basic vital functions.

He improved his reactor and started a project of providing clean energy for everyone in the States. To begin with. The world was the next goal.

Over all, he tried to do good. He tried to make up for his mistake.

But it didn't work. His chest kept aching.

Every night the billionaire sneaked into medical to check up on Steve. The rings below his eyes darkened as be couldn't manage more than an hour sleep a day. He lost too much weight to be healthy in that one week because his appetite was just gone. As soon as the brunette ate something he was already puking. The gut wrenching guilt was dragging him down.

In the mean time Steve was healing perfectly, he would be allowed to come home the next day. Tony was thinking of ways to apologise but came up empty. How did you apologise for almost killing someone? In the end he decided to not even try.

Instead of apologising he would be the perfect teammate. He would follow his orders and make sure Iron Man stayed welcome.

 

-

 

Steve arrived home and of course there was already another mission the next day. The super soldier had gotten bored in the hospital and seemed almost excited to be out fighting again.

The mission went perfectly smoothly. No hickups. No bumps. Everyone followed the plan and the enemy was easily defeated. It bugged Steve endlessly.

Everyone had followed the plan. Including Tony... And since when did Stark follow orders?

 

-

 

Steve was confused and so after taking a refreshing shower he made his way down to the workshop. The Captain paused by the door as he watched Tony in surprise.

"...no J, I'm fine. Load the new schematics. I need a faster response time if I want to keep up to expectation." The genius mumbled as he rotated an adjusted blue hologram. Tony was still covered in sweat and dirt from the mission and cleanup. He hadn't bothered with a shower. There was no time.

"Sir, I do suggest having Doctor Banner take a look at your chest. The scar tissue is not suppose to-"

"J. I said, leave it. Now how long before first simulation of mark... Ehm... 49?" Tony snapped back.

"Approximately thirty minutes Sir." The AI answers briskly, causing Tony to sigh and pull up a new set of schematics.

"Thanks J, now let's get working on Steve's shield. I want that done at the end of the night."

"Don't forget to sleep."

 

Tony turned around so fast he could hear his bones creak in protest. Steve. Shit. The engineer took a step back and tried to calm his shaking hands. He had so far avoided the Captain. But he knew this would happen eventually. "I... I won't... D-don't worry... I'll be fit to go in the f-field." Tony stuttered as be stepped back again, bumping against his work station and startling himself.

"Stark... What's wrong? There's no need to be nervous." Steve said calmly but confused as he took a small step forward his hands held up a little.

"Please... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." Tony was whispering while moisture gathered in his eyes and he shook even more. "I tried... I failed... I wasn't good enough. I'll be better next time. I'm so sorry. Please... Steve..." Finally the engineer broke and lowered to the floor, curling up and letting his tears flow.

Steve mumbled a soft curse and walked forward, crouching before Tony and resting a hand on his knee. "Stark, what are you talking about? You didn't do anything wrong. If anything you followed my orders perfectly today."

"No... Steve. Not today. I killed them. The explosion... I k-killed t-them... Last w-week... Injured you... All my fault." Tony tried to talk between his soft sobs, Steve couldn't understand everything. But he understood enough.

"Stark. How did you get the thought in your head that the explosion was your fault?" Steve asked shocked but sternly. Tony looked up with watery eyes, completely confused. "M-my... Impulse... Failed. Killed so many people. F-fury said-"

Steve cursed again and looked straight into Tony's intensely sad brown eyes. "Tony. Fury lied. There was an explosion. Yes. But it was caused by those Hydra soldiers. They had explosives. And no one was killed. I was the only one injured. And it was my own damn fault for not just getting out of there. Nothing of this was your fault. Now here is what you will do." Rogers spoke firmly to his friend and teammate. "You are going to have Jarvis save your work. Then you are going upstairs to take a shower and eat something. Sleep. And when you wake up I'll be there and we will talk. That's not a request Tony. Get going."

Tony stumbled to his feet half hazed and totally confused, and made his way out, only pausing to look at Steve with something awfully close to affection. It was gone as soon as it came through. And soon Stark was out the door.

 

-

 

Nick Fury was never afraid. Never. But he could, in certain circumstances, feel uneasy.

Having a huge angry supersoldier kicking his door in was one of those moments.

Being punched in the face by Captain America was certainly something he had never expected to happen though.

"Why?" Steve growled as he dropped Nick on the floor.

Fury didn't even ask what this was about. "He became too arrogant... He needed to be taken down a notch. The opportunity came up. We made use of it." The director answered as he rubbed his jaw.

"Down a notch!!" Steve yelled pissed off. "Down a notch!? He hasn't eaten or slept since it happened. He's close to needing hospitalisation. The guilt is crushing him. Guilt about something that is in no way his fault. If this is Shield's policy... I quit." Rogers said coldly before turning around and walking out.

 

-

 

Of course Steve told the team about what happened. They weren't amused.

Word went that Natasha had stabbed Fury's other eye out. And even though they knew it wasn't true, didn't mean they knew what actually happened in that office.

They only knew Nat and Clint went in. And when they got out the Avengers were assigned to work apart from Shield. With Phil as their handler of course.

Tony could hardly believe it. He tried convincing them to stay with Shield. "No... The world needs the Avengers. You guys can't just quit... Please... I'll leave if you want. I can leave the tower. The town. The country. Hell, I'll go live in Europe. But don't-"

"Tony, though we appreciate your concerns, we are not quitting the Avengers. We are only quitting Shield." Bruce said gently as he handed the shaking Tony a mug of hot tea.

"Now sit. Clint ordered pizza. We are going to watch a movie together. Team building exercise. Mandatory." Steve said grinning as he sat down and pulled Tony along to sit next to him. The rest of the team curled up on the same couch and Big Hero 6 started playing. Tony's secret favourite.

"How did you-"

"We know you Stark." Natasha said fondly before pinching his side making him yelp. "Now silence and watch." The movie played and Tony relaxed against Steve's side.

He was still haunted. Still cracked. But he wasn't broken.

And maybe, one day, he would be whole again.

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments ;)  
> Especially the ones with awesome ideas or plots :*


End file.
